Group Three Photo From Afar

Check out the above photo from Group Three sailor Scott "Not So Flash" Gordon (he's on the left holding his E-15 Filson bling bag) from Roadtown, Tortola on the British Virgin Islands…HI, Sailor!!

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Good E-16 News This Good Friday!!

The E-16 precipitation and snow levels continue to be in the good news category this Good Friday, gang!! 

As you now wizened fisherfolk know, the snow pack that is currently contained in western Montana’s upper climes is the water flow that will greet us when we arrive to fish Extravaganza 2016, in just a bit more than one hundred days now.  As was explained in detail in the article that I attached to my last note to you, the US Department of Agriculture’s National Water and Climate Center for decades tracks, on literally a daily basis, both the year-to-date precipitation amounts as well as the equally important “snow water equivalent” (“SWE”) of each year’s snow pack accumulation throughout the western Rockies and the report this year continues to be an excellent one.

For our targeted river basis, the 52 mile long Bitterroot River that flows from the south right into downtown Missoula (where it merges with the Clark Fork of the Columbia River) current SNOTEL readings are, get this, as follows:  year to date precipitation is rocking in at 102% of twenty year averages and the SWE of this year’s snow pack is right at 97% of twenty year medians.

These are two of the most important variables that will factor into the water levels and water clarity for Extravaganza 2016.  Other factors are included in the weather pattern for the greater Missoula area between now and our June arrivals (i.e., last year we were tracking these same 90%+ averages BUT there was a huge heat wave during April of 2015 that melted half of the then snowpack, leaving us with low water come Group Three) and the ongoing precipitation levels during this El Nino year.  May and early June are traditionally the wettest times of the year in Montana and we need to watch out for excessive rainfall during tha period that will only drive up water levels and increase the turbidity in the rivers’ waters, thereby reducing visibility.

Each year we dance with Mother Nature and it is nice to see the samba that she is doing in coordinated fashion with this year’s Easter Bunny!

Best to all on the oh-so-cusp of it all,

Rock Creek Ron

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Extravaganza 2016 is Now 90 days to the Making!

Greetings all on the eve of my again going to Patagonia, Chile, to fish (again!) with the great Magic Waters guides!    

As we move the E-16 ball further down the court, I am pleased to report that Groups One and Three are now 100% subscribed and, with respect to the few openings yet left in Group Two, I had lunch yesterday with veteran Tattooer Joe “Compari” Ciatti and we have developed a fun game plan to run the tables and fill out the balance of the Extravaganza 2016 dance card.

As we do every year, we now begin to watch and monitor the snowpack in the upper climes of the western Montana mountains and the volume and the water density of that accumulation will directly impact our June fishing.  Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks prints an award-winning magazine, Montana Outdoors, that highlights it management of the flora and fauna of the great state of Montana—it is a bargain and, simply stated, something that you should consider subscribing to for $2.00/issue.  It contains a wide-range of articles, a copy of one from the latest issue is attached for your reading enjoyment. 

In addition to the well-written editorial piece my good friend FWP Executive Director Jeff Hagener (who has attend the last six + of our Extravaganzas),  I have attached an interesting article explaining just how the snow level and density data is accumulated and calculated.  My numbers that come to you are from the SNOTEL source described in this writing which, as of today, report that our E-16 targeted Bitterroot River Basin is tracking at 97% of the 20 year average to-date water precipitation and contains a water content equal to 91% of 20 year mean averages—which is absolutely fantastic for those of us (very) interested fisherfolk!

Things are really heating up here at E-16 Command Center as we begin dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s for this year’s event.  If you have not done so already, NOW is the time to procure your flight reservations to/fro MSO, and NOW is the time to begin dreaming at night of all of the wonderful visages and smells that E-16 will soon bring your way!

Best to all mid-preparation of it all,

Rock Creek Ron

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E-16: Senators, Governors and Wiremen To Call!!

Greetings fellow E-16ers!

March is now upon us and we rapidly now approach ninety days until the Marvelous Ones break the ice and arrive on the scene to open Extravaganza 2016, our fourteenth foray into the wilds of Western Montana Ritz Carlton style. 

And what a year it is shaping up to be, as snow pack levels continue to be in the 90^th percentiles of twenty year averages, with the Bitterroot Basin, as of this morning, posting a 98% year-to-date precipitation average, with, most important, snow water equivalents at 94% of 20 year medians and with the same averages boasting from the Clark Fork River Basin…bueno, bueno, bueno!!

With the promise of a “kinder and gentler” schedule for Extravaganza 2016, that doesn’t mean that we are ever going to compromise quality for reduced volume.  Get this:  my great friend and NWF regional director Tom France is now running for the MT state senate for the Missoula area and will be gracing the Ones to speak to them after your first day of fishing on the trials and tribulations of being a candidate for state office; as previously announced, our MT governor is going to pay the Tattoos an evening visit on Monday, June 20^th, as he ramps up his re-election campaign, to be serenaded by Montana Matters Troubadour Shane Clouse; and the one and only Bob Wire is going to return for a repeat private concert for Dem Threes on the last evening of Extravaganza 2016.  There will be more to follow as we fill in the evening fare for this year’s event, with our targeted charity this year again being the Montana Natural History Center as we gear up to fill the bus we bought for them in E-15 with a naturalist to tend to the grammar school kids to be taken out into nature with our bountiful bus (that will be on display the last night of each group).

And the bling this year, oh the bling that I have in store for you!  Each year, as we complete an Extravaganza, I  literally ask myself, “Now, what in the world am I going to do for next year’s event that we haven’t done in the prior now-multiple years?”  Well, as has been done year after year, even you crusty veterans out there are going to take a step back and say “whoa!” to the goodies that I have in store for you this year—many being custom-made, one of a kind items…yep, year after year I reserve the right to treat y’all extravagantly and E=16 will be no exception!

If you haven’t done so already, NOW is the time to book your air flights to/fro MSO.  The number of seats on each flight is fixed and, as more and more of you book your flights, the number of seats on those flights gets fewer and fewer, driving upwards the price for the same experience.  So, “book ‘em Danno” and, when you have done so, forward your reservations to our E=16 Coordinator Extraordinaire Stephanie James at sjames@clausenlawgroup.com so we can get you signed into our master travel bible.

I am getting as excited as I hope each of you are about Extravaganza 2016—Mother Nature has set a great table for us so far; all of our product is on order and being delivered on a weekly basis now; our groups are all but full (Group One is fully subscribed and there is but two open slots in each of Group Two and Group Three!), and life is shaping up wonderfully for your soon-to-occur arrival(s) in Extravaganzaland.

Keep your eyes peeled for a higher volume of E-16 emails once I return from (again) fishing in Patagonia, Chile on March 19^th—gotta meet that business plan to fish 30 days this year, ya know!—and reach out to me if you have any questions or candidates to fill the few remaining E-16 slots…in fourteen years, we have yet to have an open bed!!

Best to all in the preparation stages of it all,

Rock Creek Ron

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